It Waits in the Forest

February 19, 2024
The small Caribbean Island of St. Virgil has more than its fair share of secrets and scandals. Alone ever since a tragic attack killed her father and put her mother into a coma, 18-year-old Selina DaSilva makes a living working in a friend’s souvenir shop while surreptitiously pretending to be a psychic, using her botanical knowledge to help people looking for supernatural solutions to their problems. The arrival of a tourist who’s convinced he’s being stalked by an evil spirit coincides with several gruesome, unsolved murders and the return of Selina’s ex-boyfriend, Gabriel. Haunted by her mother’s reputation as a witch and by whatever dark force she believes is behind the deaths, Selina must work with Gabriel to uncover the truth of what’s happening before the body count increases. Selina and Gabriel contend with small-town dynamics, lingering trauma, an encroaching paranormal threat drawn from Caribbean folklore, and issues of privilege in this atmospheric, claustrophobic-feeling thriller by Dass (When the Vibe Is Right). Complexly brewed fantasy elements set against a memorable setting make for an urgent tale that remains tense and unpredictable to the end. All major characters have brown skin. Ages 12–up. Agent: Wendi Gu, Greenburger Assoc.

April 15, 2024
Grades 9-12 A study about humanity and dealing with growth and grief, this is the type of book that keeps readers invested. The setting is the Caribbean island of St. Virgil, where we follow the ambitious and bold Selina DaSilva, who has dreams of leaving the island to pursue a different life. She wishes to study pharmacology, and the island feels too small for her. Readers will sense her frustration about living in St. Virgil, a place where everyone has a role that they are expected to keep during their lifetime, and where people are obsessed with magic as a solution to many issues. Less focused on the islanders and their magic system, this digs deep into Selina's feelings. Through her, we understand devastating grief when she loses her parents. Selina must join forces with Gabriel, her ex and a newspaper writer, in order to investigate strange and bloody murders around the island. This expansive, character-driven mystery will leave readers thinking about what it means to be brave and how we define ourselves.

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April 1, 2024
A young woman attempts to use the gifts from her mother to determine what's real and what's imagined as she searches for her father's killer. Selina DaSilva is an 18-year-old girl living on the Caribbean island of St. Virgil. Her mother, a spiritualist, worked in tandem with her father, a forensics investigator, to solve crimes in their small town. Selina's mother's intuition led to the release of a man the townspeople believed to be guilty of murdering a woman. After his acquittal, Selina's father was killed, and her mother ended up in a coma. Selina is surviving by selling "fake spells and charms" in her friend's mystic curiosity shop. She's beginning to have troubling visions of her father when a suspect in a brutal death at a local hotel visits the shop. Selina partners with Gabriel, her ex-boyfriend, to try to figure out if the murder is connected to what happened to her parents. This wonderfully atmospheric story will keep readers on their toes. The shades of horror are artfully done and add just the right amount of tension to this enjoyable read. The protagonist's struggle to believe in the other world in which her mother existed so easily sets up an interesting character study. The characters are predominantly Black or multiracial. A heart-racing tale of Caribbean folklore, herbalism, and mysticism. (Thriller. 13-18)

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June 1, 2024

Gr 9 Up-This is a dark and haunting novel that draws from Caribbean mythology and will leave readers eager for more by Dass. Selina is an outcast on the small island St. Virgil due to her mother's bad reputation and a past tragedy that left her father dead and her mother in a coma. She works in a shop owned by her boyfriend's sister, Allison. Selina and Allison run a con where Selina pretends to have psychic abilities by snooping through customers' personal belongings. Despite her skepticism towards her mother's psychic teachings, Selina finds herself using them to maintain the ruse. Everything changes when an unsettling man seeks help at the shop and new attacks start. With the help of an ex-boyfriend, Selina delves into the murders, uncovering connections that stir up old emotions. This novel delivers everything a horror reader could want: high stakes, intriguing characters with questionable motives, and page-turning suspense. Readers will root for Selina as she navigates through the challenges and dangers of her world, all while facing the harsh treatment of those she has known her whole life. Selina's relationship problems will also interest readers. VERDICT A must-buy for where horror is popular.-Michelle Lettus

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